VietNamNet Bridge – A survey published by the Ministry of Information and Communications yesterday reveals that the rate of households nationwide connected to the internet is a low 8.2 per cent.

Residents of Hong Bac Commune in the central province of Thua Thien-Hue's mountainous district of A Luoi access the internet at their local post office. (Photo: VNS)
This means more than 1.6 million of the 20.1 million homes surveyed have internet access, 4.4 per cent less than the number of home computers.

The survey on the provision of telephone, internet and audio-visual services was made by the ministry in June last year in 11,000 communes, towns and wards across the country.

It was also conducted at 14 telecom businesses and 67 radio and television stations nationwide.

The survey showed that the number of households connected to the Internet in many provinces stood at between 2 to 4 per cent – and most of the connections were in urban areas.

The number of households using the internet regularly in urban areas is 33 per cent while the figure for rural areas it is 7.2 per cent.

On the use of television, the survey showed that an average of 90.4 per cent of households nationwide were serviced, but in mountainous provinces such as Lai Chau, Dien Bien and Ha Giang, nearly 40 per cent of households were too poor to own a set.

Mobile phone ownership is led by southern Binh Duong Province with 57 per cent of its population, followed by HCM City with 54 per cent and central Da Nang City, 47 per cent.

Meanwhile, Ha Noi leads the country in terms of the number of fixed telephone subscribers with 32.3 per cent of households while the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta An Giang Province has the lowest rate of 8.4 per cent.

Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Bac Son said this was the biggest and most comprehensive survey ever made by the sector. Figures collected from the survey would be used for the construction of an information and technology project for the 2011-15 period and up to 2020.

The results of the survey would help map out plans to apply information technology in socio-economic development in surveyed areas, he said.

It would also help form an information data basis, contributing to the construction and operation of the e-Government.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News